Plenty Of Area Track And Field On Tap

Area colleges

If you’ve been looking for a chance to get out and see some local college track competition, this is the weekend you’ve waited for.

At Pullman, the Washington State men host Oregon, Washington and Idaho Saturday, while the Cougar women entertain Oregon and Washington. Field events begin at 11 a.m., with action on the track getting under way at 1:30 p.m.

Oregon’s men are paced by freshman sprinter Pat Johnson, who leads the Pacific-10 Conference in the 100 (10.27), 200 (20.46) and 400 (45.57).

The meet provides a bit of a homecoming for three Oregon distance runners - Matt Davis, Rob Aubrey and Greg James - who excelled at Mead High.

WSU women’s coach Rob Cassleman calls Oregon and Washington two of the best dual-meet teams in the country, and the Coug women have already suffered road defeats to these conference foes. The Cougar women have never beaten Oregon in a dual.

Today, the Region 18 meet, hosted by North Idaho College, continues at Spokane Falls, while Whitworth hosts the NCIC championships today (starting at 3 p.m.) and Saturday (starting at noon).

Whitworth will use the meet as an opportunity to dedicate the new track and field complex as Boppell Memorial Track - honoring the memory of Carl and Betty Boppell, parents of Charles Boppell, current chairman of the Whitworth board of trustees

Then, on Saturday, the Spokane Falls track is taken over for the Bigfoot Open, hosted by Community Colleges of Spokane and featuring teams from Eastern Washington, Highline, Bellevue and Gonzaga. Field events begin at 11, with races starting at noon.

Just one North Idaho College athlete won an event in the first day of the Region 18 Track and Field championships Thursday at SFCC.

The Cardinals’ Chris Thompson of Sandpoint captured the discus, an event he’d already qualified in for the NJCAA national meet. Thompson’s winning toss was 157 feet, 6 inches. NIC’s Ben Nystrom of Bonners Ferry finished third with a throw of 152-2.

The winners in each event qualify for nationals. Others may qualify by meeting the qualifying standards.

The men’s and women’s meets Thursday were dominated by Ricks College of Rexburg, Idaho. Ricks’ men posted 44 points in eight events while the women scored 49 points in eight events.

The regional concludes today as re maining field events begin at 10 a.m. Running finals begin at noon.

Baseball

Lewis-Clark State’s Art Baeza belted a three-run home run and Jake Wayt pitched eight innings of seven-hit ball as the Warriors handed Washington State a 10-4 setback in a non-league baseball game Thursday night at Harris Field in Lewiston.

Wayt (6-1) worked into the ninth inning before giving way to Ronnie Quijada. He struck out eight as the Warriors improved to 48-14.

The Cougars (23-26) return to Pacific 10 Conference North action with a doubleheader Saturday at Washington.

Lewis-Clark St. 10, Washington St. 4

WSU 010 000 012 -4 8 1 LCSC 000 303 04x -10 11 3

Vezzetti, Murray (4), Clifford (5), Estes (6), Marquart (7) and Hamik. Wayt, Quijada (9) and Wilson, Ciraulo (1). W-Wayt (6-1), L-Murray (1-3).

HITS: WSUCameron 2, Kinkade, Naumu, Wetmore 2, Jordan 2. LCSCVopata 3, Davis 2, McAninch, Baeza, Phair, Rodriquez, Ciraulo, Pereira.

2B-Davis, Vopata. HR-Kinkade (7), Baeza (3).